1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for displaying content on a computer display. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for displaying and navigating through content on a computer display by hiding content within “folds” in scrollable content.
2. Related Art
When content, such as text or graphics, is displayed on a computer screen (or a window on the computer screen), the content frequently requires more space for display than is available on the computer screen or window. Several techniques are presently used to solve this “limited-display” problem:                1. Scrolling: typically by using scrolling mechanisms along the edges of a window.        2. Panning: typically by using a “hand” graphic to drag the content from off-screen into the visible region within a window.        3. Scaling/Resizing the content to fit within the allotted display space.        
A similar problem arises when a user wants to view points-of-interest within the content that are widely separated. One technique for displaying such content that is widely separated is to split a window into two or more “sub-panes.” Each sub-pane can then be independently navigated through the content using one of the above mechanisms (scrolling, panning, and scaling/resizing) to display the desired points-of-interest within the content. The content between the points-of-interest is hidden off-screen.
Unfortunately, these existing mechanisms which are used to solve the above-described problems have limitations and are somewhat cumbersome and non-intuitive. Hence, what is needed is a less cumbersome and more intuitive method for displaying content on a computer display.